


and i'll shiver like i used to

by fullmetallizard



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, I've never done an AU and I lowkey hate this please don't judge too harshly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 08:22:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6898315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullmetallizard/pseuds/fullmetallizard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riza sees Roy for the first time since they broke up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and i'll shiver like i used to

**Author's Note:**

> I so much do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

“I have a venti iced coffee with whole milk on the bar!” The barista with dangly heart earrings called out, sliding the cup towards the edge of the counter.

Riza went to grab the cup when her hand collided with someone else’s. Her first thought was, “ _I’m going to break those fingers.”_ It then occurred to her that maybe she should not be so protective of a cup of coffee.

“I’m sorry,” she rushed out as the other person mumbled out an equally hurried apology.

“Oh! Hi, Riza.”

She looked up and her heart nearly sank to the café floor. How had she not seen him ordering? She took a second trying to get her breath back and finally managed a small, “Hi, Roy.”

“I have another iced coffee with whole milk,” the barista said, sliding the icy cup towards her. She picked it up and Roy picked up the other one.

“Do you have somewhere you need to be?” Roy asked, smiling. “Or can we take a second to catch up?”

Her mouth dried. She tried to think of an excuse. She looked down at her outfit: an oversized hoodie (that once belonged to him if she remembered correctly), leggings, and beaten up sneakers. Her hair was in a messy topknot, thinking that brushing it wouldn’t be necessary for a coffee run. She definitely didn’t look like she had somewhere to be.

She hated herself for caring how she looked.

“I have a little bit,” she said quietly, looking back up and struggling to meet his dark eyes.

Roy led her to a small table and Riza took deep breaths, willing the warmth in her cheeks to fade. She could tell they were bright pink.

He handed her a straw and she used it to quickly sip her coffee, trying to soothe the desert that was the back of her throat.

“So how have you been?” He asked, running a hand through his black hair. Still in a constant state of disarray, even two years later. His smile was so easy and his tone light. It was almost like the last time they saw each other Riza wasn’t crying so hard her eyes ached for days after.

“I’ve been okay,” she said quietly, taking another swig of iced coffee to help with the lump she could feel forming in her throat.

“What have you been up to since you graduated?”

“I’m a preschool teacher.”

“Really?” His brows raised.

“You sound so surprised,” Riza said. “What are you doing these days?” She asked, even though she knew.

“Well, I’m still in grad school but lately I’ve been writing for the paper.” She saw his name in paper every morning.

Riza didn’t know what to say. She didn’t feel twenty-three. She felt sixteen, frazzled and awestruck. She felt eighty, tired and spent.

Roy still had a lazy grin on his face. He was the type of person to never know an awkward silence. “So do you like teaching?” He asked.

Riza smiled, despite herself. “I like the kids. They’re surprisingly passionate.”

“I’m glad you’re doing well, Riza.” The way he said her name was so familiar and so foreign. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the sting of the one time in her short, lonely life that she had asked someone to stay. And he hadn’t.

She couldn’t look at his face anymore without there being a burning threat of tears so she pretended to be fascinated with the cheesy cardboard heart hanging from the menu board.

“I…I have to go,” she said suddenly, standing up.

“Riza, wait!” He said, laying his hand gently on her arm. It was enough to make her stay.

Suddenly, she was angry. She was angry he left, angry he never called, angry he never changed his drink order at Starbucks. It was so unlike her. She was known for keeping everything in, for being calm, cool, and collected. But something in her was so very broken.

“I can’t do this, Roy. I can’t sit here with you. There’s all these shitty Valentine’s Day decorations everywhere and it is _killing_ me.”

A man reading the paper and sipping from a mug looked over with a sneer and moved to another table. Riza was far too upset to care.

Roy wasn’t moving, his hand still frozen on her forearm. His mouth was hanging open a little, at a loss for words for the first time since she’d met him.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could sit here like a normal person and catch up and…talk about the weather and work but I can’t because my chest still hurts when someone mentions you or if I see your name in the paper. I can’t sit here and drink coffee and pretend that Rebecca didn’t have to sleep in my bed with me for two weeks straight.”

Roy winced, his arm falling to his side.

“I’m…I have to go. It was good to see you, Roy.”

She picked up her cup, noticing that she chewed the straw to the point of uselessness. She grabbed another one and headed outside. Her phone started buzzing in her pocket as soon as her breathing had calmed.

“Hello?” She asked, wiping the corner of her eye where a stray tear managed to escape.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, baby! I made reservations for seven. Does that work for you?”

Riza took a deep breath. Through the window she could see that Roy was still standing, rubbing the back of his head and looking stunned.

“Yeah, Jean,” she said, trying to find some happiness to give him. “Seven is perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't hate me! I love you for reading!


End file.
